


Greens are good for you

by errantknightess



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Chocobos, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Questionable Dietary Decisions, homeopathic amounts of mutual pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 07:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20503382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/errantknightess/pseuds/errantknightess
Summary: In which Prompto eats chocobo feed for science.





	Greens are good for you

**Author's Note:**

> Fic request for Xell! The prompt was chocobo post + leaf greens + burger.

It’s easy to find Prompto here: Noctis just needs to head for the biggest cluster of chocobos in the pen. Sure enough, his best friend is right there, closed in a circle of soft wings and sharp beaks. His head barely pokes out over them. Noctis sneaks closer, quiet and careful, trying not to rustle the paper bag in his hands. Feathers tickle his face as he brushes past. But the birds don’t spook – they’re well used to people, and far too distracted.

“Who’s the most _adorable_ bird ever?” Prompto coos at the chocobo he’s renting, slowly petting its long, slender neck. Another one comes up behind him, flaps its wings and gently headbutts him in the shoulder. Prompto jolts and laughs, turning to scratch the impatient bird under the chin. “Aww, I’m sorry, buddy! You’re all adorable,” he corrects quickly. The chocobo squawks happily, and Noctis can’t help but smile. Prompto looks like he’s right where he belongs, and not just for his yellow hair blending in with the fluffed up plumage.

The birds crowd around, bowing their heads down to get their fair share of affection. They have it good here, Noctis thinks, running around without a care in the world. It must be nice being a chocobo. He dodges a gaggle of chicks, slips between two brightly dyed hens, and taps Prompto on the back.

“Yes, yes, you’re a cutie too.” Prompto swivels around and stops short with his hand half-way to Noctis’s cheek. His eyes go wide, but the smile doesn’t falter. “Oh. Hey, Noct.”

“Hey.” Noctis blinks at that hand, then promptly shoves his paper bag into it. “You hungry?”

Prompto’s stomach answers for him, so loud that it earns him reproachful looks from a couple of startled birds. Of course. It’s just like him to put quality time with chocobos over dinner. With a self-conscious laugh, Prompto opens the bag, wafting the heavy smell of the still-warm burgers inside.

“Thanks, dude,” he sighs, grappling the spilling sandwich with one hand. “I’ll totally free you of veggies for this.”

“Knock yourself out.” Noctis takes out the other burger and for the next minute they perform an open-bun surgery, transplanting all the icky lettuce and cucumber. The chocobos perk up around them, craning their necks and chirping excitedly.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this right here,” Noctis mutters, eyeing the nearest bird as it stares at their burgers with a gleam in its beady eye. “Come on, let’s go find a seat.”

“But—” Prompto pouts, ready to fight for every precious second with his fluffy favourites. It almost works. Noctis quickly looks away from those puppy eyes before they can change his mind. He pulls Prompto by the elbow, insistently steering them a few steps away – but it’s too late. You can’t outrun a chocobo.

“No!” they cry out in unison as the bird reaches for Prompto’s burger. Prompto yanks it away at the last second, lunges back and dives behind Noctis, clinging to his shoulders for dear life. “That’s mine! Not for you!”

“Told you we should go,” Noctis laughs. He pets the big fluffy head pressing into his side, but it doesn’t budge an inch. This is a chocobo on a mission.

“Not fair!” Prompto huffs, his breath hot in Noctis’s ear. “Shoo! Why don’t you go bother Noct?”

“Cause it’s _your_ burger that’s got all the greens.” Noctis shrugs under the warm weight of Prompto’s chest plastered against him. The chocobo is still trying to wedge itself between them, hell-bent on getting to Prompto’s sandwich and completely ignoring the one in Noctis’s hand right in its sight.

“Traitor,” Prompto grumbles, pushing away the curious beak that keeps nosing at him. His arm tightens around Noctis’s shoulders. Noctis barely has time to wonder how he came to be used as a human shield, and how _nice_ that feels; the next moment, he almost falls over as Prompto pulls him sideways and starts dragging away.

“Here, birdie,” he calls, even though the chocobo is already hot on their heels.

Noctis stumbles along, tangling their legs, with Prompto’s knee poking him in the thigh every step on the way. He has many questions – but they all die in his throat, choked by laughter as the chocobo’s beak nudges his chest again and again.

“Hurry up, Prompto,” he wheezes. “This is torture.”

“Yeah? Sounds like you’re having fun.” Prompto grins into his hair, and sure, okay, maybe they can take their time. They can take all the time in the world.

Little by little, they inch across the pen. It would be easier to just warp away, but Noctis doesn’t want to risk that in an enclosure full of panicky animals. As they get closer to the fence, he gears up to jump and make a run for it; but Prompto tugs him down, bending to pick up a leaf from the feeding trough.

“Good bird! Here, have this instead.” He holds the leaf out like a weapon, waving it a little to get the chocobo’s attention. It works. The bird grabs the treat with so much enthusiasm that Prompto barely manages to pull his hand back in time. The huge leaf is gone within seconds – and then the feathered fiend zeroes in on the burger again.

This time, Noctis doesn’t wait. He grabs Prompto by the shirt and all but hurls him over the fence. A blink later and he’s on the other side as well. The chocobo leans out after them, straining its neck and snapping its beak, undeterred.

“Oh, come on!” Prompto groans, rubbing the elbow he landed on. “Cut it out! How would _you_ feel if I ate your food, huh?”

“That’s a lame trade-off,” Noctis snorts. “No wonder it goes for your burger if all it gets every day is this stinky green stuff.”

“Hey, I like that smell.” Prompto reaches for another leaf to appease the disappointed bird. “They’re just veggies. Probably like cabbage or something.”

Noctis wrinkles his nose. “Cabbage is gross.”

“Cabbage is good for you.” Prompto flaps the leaf right in front of his face. “Besides, these are curiel greens. They make the chocobos go faster. That wouldn’t be so bad!”

“You think it works on humans, too?”

Prompto shoots him a cocky grin, the same one he wears whenever he’s about to smear Noct out of the high score list.

“Only one way to find out.”

Noctis glares at the leaf – deep green, spongy, and covered in fine, short fuzz.

“No way. I’m not eating this.”

Still grinning, Prompto tickles his cheek with the edge of the wide blade. “That’s your loss, buddy. But if these work, you’ll never gonna catch up with me.”

“You’re on.” Noctis smirks back. “Your leaves against my warping. Go on, try.”

Prompto looks him straight in the eye, holds the leaf up, takes a deep breath, and nibbles at the very tip.

“Bleh.” He quickly pulls it out of his mouth, scraping his tongue against his teeth. “Bitter.”

“Put it in the burger,” Noct suggests. “That should kill the taste.”

“Or kill the burger,” Prompto sighs, but still slips the leaf into his bun. It’s so big it sticks out all around like a frilly skirt. Prompto gives it one last critical once-over and bites into it as if he were about to change his mind otherwise.

“Hmmm…” He chews slowly, with full cheeks and a frown that makes him look like a very thoughtful hamster. “It’s… interesting. Nowhere near Iggy-level, but not bad.”

“Just don’t mention this new recipe around him. He’s gonna take that as a challenge.” There’s no doubt that Ignis could improve even on this complete gastronomic disaster, but Noctis really doesn’t want to give him ideas. Especially when the result of their little experiment is still unclear. “So, do you feel anything?”

Prompto shakes his head, visibly disappointed. “Not really… But I don’t even know what I’m supposed to feel.” He takes another bite, then another, even though he winces more and more with each one. “Maybe it takes time… Or maybe I just haven’t eaten enough yet.”

But a split second later, there’s no more to eat. A yellow blur lunges between them, and the rest of Prompto’s burger disappears in a greedy beak before either of them can react. Then the chocobo trots away from the fence, looking as smug and satisfied as only a bird can.

“Damn…” Prompto lets out a pained whine. “Fair enough, I guess. I took your food, you took mine.”

“It took _both_,” Noctis points out.

“Yeah, but look at it. It’s so happy! I can’t even be mad.” Prompto sighs, trailing the chocobo with big blue eyes full of longing. He’s got that fond look on his face that tickles Noctis somewhere down in his throat. “Anyway, you ready for our race?”

“More ready than you are.” Noctis smirks. “You really think it will work?”

Prompto shrugs. “We won’t know till we try, right? Come on!”

They pick out a nice stretch of the dirt road that winds around the post. It’s long enough that Noctis can’t warp all the way in one go, which should even out their chances a bit. Noctis waits for Prompto to finish his warm-ups and drags his heel through the packed earth to draw the start line. They take positions and freeze, glancing at each other from the corner of their eyes.

“On three,” Prompto says. “One, two… three!”

He darts ahead before Noct even summons a weapon. It hardly matters. The dagger appears in his hand in a flash of blue and splits through the air not a second later; Noctis follows, so fast he can’t even see Prompto as he flies past. He skids to a stop after a few dozen meters, catches his balance and risks a look back, just in case Prompto is somehow catching up.

He’s not. He’s still halfway down the road, bent over by a tree, so pale that his face shines even from the distance. Noctis swears, rips the dagger from where it’s stuck in a low branch and warps back, nearly keeling over as he reaches him.

“What’s wrong?”

Prompto clutches at his stomach and bows his head against the tree trunk, eyes squeezed shut.

“’M queasy,” he mutters. “Must be those greens.” He’s breathing heavily, and his hand shakes as it claws at his shirt.

“Want to lay down?” Noctis asks. All he gets in response is a vaguely affirmative groan. He slips an arm around Prompto’s shoulders and gently peels him away from the tree. Prompto leans on him harder than he expected, which only makes him more alarmed. “Come on, let’s get you back to the trailer.”

“No go,” Prompto slurs through clenched teeth, pushing his face into Noct’s shoulder. “Wanna lie.”

“Here?” Noctis wants to protest, but gives up when another urgent groan trembles against his neck. Slowly, he lowers them both on the ground, trying not to jostle Prompto too much. It’s not so bad down there: the grass and moss are soft enough to get reasonably comfortable. Noctis sits with his legs tucked and his back against the tree; Prompto curls up beside him, his head lolling to the side in Noct’s lap.

“Better?” Noctis asks.

“Yeah,” Prompto sighs. His eyelids flutter, and his face relaxes a little from that painful wince. “I’ll be good. Thanks, dude.”

“No sweat,” Noctis replies. He pushes the hair from Prompto’s forehead and notes with relief that the skin is cool to touch. Prompto’s cheeks aren’t so pale anymore, either. Hopefully it’s not poisoning, just a regular indigestion.

“See, I told you vegetables are bad,” Noctis says. The joke is forced, but Prompto smiles a weak smile anyway.

“I dunno.” He shifts slightly, burying his face in Noct’s stomach. “I think I got a pretty sweet deal here.”

“Right…” Noctis mutters. He can feel Prompto breathing against him, and it sends a bolt of warmth from his gut right up to his cheeks. “I mean, at least now we know you’re not _really_ part chocobo.”

“Shut up.” Prompto reaches out and pushes at his cheek with a limp hand. Noctis grabs it, squeezing his fingers lightly, and pulls it away with ease.

He doesn’t let go, and Prompto doesn’t seem to mind.

**Author's Note:**

> me: *opens fic requests*  
also me: *takes over a month to complete a single one*  
But hey, if you don't mind the wait, you're still welcome to leave me some prompts! Just check out the pinned tweet on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/Err_417).


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